Windies dreaming of T20 glory, Australia remain hot favourites

The West Indies have proven their doubters wrong by reaching Fridays Womens T20 World Cup semifinal against New Zealand but have their sights set on repeating their 2016 triumph The Caribbean side have been knocked out in the group stage in the past two editions and they may have feared a repeat after losing their opener in the United Arab Emirates to South Africa by 10 wickets But a magnificent victory against England their first over the worlds secondranked team since 2018 has left them one win from the final with only an unfancied New Zealand standing in their wayI think a lot of people wrote us off coming into this tournament captain Hayley Matthews said The way weve been able to go about our cricket especially after the start we had against South Africa weve just bounced back against Scotland against BangladeshAlso Read Womens cricket in Asia struggles to match Western standardsWe havent beat England in about six years As far as I can remember the last time we beat them was back in 2018 but everyone still came here with a belief and a fight and it just shows what we can do as a West Indian team For many years the West Indies have relied heavily on Matthews Stafanie Taylor and Deandra DottinThe return of Dottin from international retirement for this tournament has been key to their success but other players have also stepped up Legspinner Afy Fletcher took 321 against England while opening batter Qiana Joseph clubbed a crucial 52 The Windies have struck more sixes than any other country in the event so far and Joseph and Matthews plundered a tournamenthigh 67 from the England bowlers in the powerplay Their ultimately comfortable chase ensured they finished top of Group B avoiding a lastfour meeting with redhot favourites Australia New Zealand themselves have exceeded expectations by making the semis largely courtesy of a victory over India who were tipped to be title contendersAlso ReadKohli hails De Villiers on induction in ICC Hall of FameAustralia power onAustralia bidding for a fourth consecutive T20 World Cup title have cruised into the knockout phase taking their winning streak in the tournament to 15 matches along the way The sixtime champions face South Africa in Dubai on Thursday in a repeat of the 2023 final They have been hit by injuries though with bowler Tayla Vlaeminck leaving the squad after suffering a shoulder injury Australias main worry is the fitness of captain and opener Alyssa Healy who missed the crucial group win over India earlier this week with a foot injury and whose participation in the knockouts remains in doubt Weve been really trying to get around each other as a group whether it be the injured girls the girls playing slightly different roles and just really sticking together as a group and focusing on the job at hand said standin skipper Tahlia McGrath South Africa are playing in the semifinals for a third successive T20 World Cup and will be confident of pushing Australia after a narrow defeat on home soil in the final last yearThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever